There’s plenty of time for summer reading…almost half of August is left and of course Labor Day weekend – whatever these final weeks might hold in store for you.  If you haven’t had a chance to “catch up” on your pile of shame, I’ll add to your list with these 10 enlightening authors.  🙂  With a few video shorts as well to entertain…

Five we’ve mentioned in our TED Talk series, a few are “oldie but goodies” but still very relevant and five that have just come out this year.

First for the “disruptive tech” fans in our community check out:

1) Kevin Kelly – The Inevitable – Understanding the 12 Technological Forces that Will Shape our Future (just out) – Unfathomable technological changes are in the works, writes Wired founding executive editor (and current “senior maverick”) Kelly (What Technology Wants, 2010, etc.), who proceeds to tell us what they will be. OR

2) Geoffrey Moore – Crossing the Chasm – an OLDY that’s still relevant 20 years later (although it was revised in 2014) – A key reference point for high tech marketing but since a lot (SaS, cloud computing, mobile endpoints) has evolved since its original printing in 1990, Moore’s revised edition highlights all new examples AND adds lessons learned bringing disruptive technology to market. Take 13 minutes and  check out his entertaining synopsis here.

For those who are looking to improve…either yourself OR your operations:

3) Jessica Dilullo Herrin – Find Your Extraordinary – The path to success does not always follow a straight and narrow line, and no one knows this better than Stella & Dot founder and CEO Jessica Herrin. Herrin focuses on how to cultivate the entrepreneurial spirit inside each one of us – and step up to create our own definition of happiness and success. An inspirational read! 

4) Jake Knapp – Sprint – How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in just Five Days – Entrepreneurs and leaders face big questions every day: What’s the most important place to focus your effort, and how do you start? What will your idea look like in real life? From three partners at Google Ventures, a unique five-day process for solving tough problems, proven at more than a hundred companies… a practical guide for anyone with a big opportunity or who just needs some answers to a perplexing problem.

5) Amy Cuddy – Presence – Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges The #2 TED Talk, Cuddy wrote this book to help people from all walks of life develop a strong sense of presence to command respect and inspire others, speak with poise and clarity and develop an inner sense of confidence and make an impact.  For anyone looking to develop those qualities AND have impact!  (BTW for her TED Talk click here.)

For those of you who are looking to get the best out of your people – two new books and one “classic”:

6) Kim Scott – Radical Candor – How to Be a Kickass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity – From the time we learn to speak, we’re told that if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. While this advice may work for everyday life, it is, as Kim Scott has seen, a disaster when adopted by managers. Radical candor is the sweet spot between managers who are obnoxiously aggressive on one side and ruinously empathetic on the other. Scott outlines three simple principles for building better relationships with your employees – practical and engaging and if you missed it, check out the short video here.

7) Adam Grant – Originals – How Non-Conformists Move the World – What makes the great innovators different? Adam Grant, one of Wharton’s best loved professors brings his gift of storytelling to the subject and explores all aspects of the innovating spirit from how procrastination can actually help the innovation process to what the choice of a browser tells us about a person. And how artistic avocations can turbocharge innovations in other seemingly unrelated arenas.  (It was Galileo’s skills as an artist that allowed him to see mountains on the moon!)

8) Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman – First, Break All the Rules Whether you’re a team leader in a big corporation, or the owner of a small establishment, this classic offers real-world situations and practical advice and guidance for helping you to get the most out of people.  Not meant as a textbook. What it contains is insight. Discover how great managers find, attract, hire and keep their most talented employees. Based on a massive ongoing study by Gallup and full of entertaining and instructive stories.  A must read on great management!

For those of you who may have had a significant challenge and are looking for inspiration to go forward:

9) Brenee Brown – Rising Strong – The Reckoning, the Rumble, the Revolution – How to we get to the heart of the most painful and uncomfortable moments we’ve ever experienced? How do we get honest about the way in which they’ve made us feel, and how can we be bold enough to hold ourselves accountable to get up and grow from the past as we move into the future?  These are the questions that Brown asks and speaks to in her latest book. From learning how to share our vulnerabilities to using stories to deal with pain, Brown offers sage advice based on her own experiences as well as others.  An inspirational book and her very inspirational TED Talk on the power of vulnerability can be found here: http://bit.ly/BreneeBrownPower

And finally for those of you looking to improve your bottom-lines…and engage your staff as well…

10) Jack Stack – The Great Game of Business – another oldy but goody – In the early 1980s, Springfield Remanufacturing Corporation (SRC) in Springfield, Missouri, was a near bankrupt division of International Harvester. That’s when a green young manager, Jack Stack, took over and turned it around. He didn’t know how to “manage” a company, but he did know about the principal, of athletic competition and democracy: keeping score, having fun, playing fair, providing choice, and having a voice. With these principals he created his own style of management – open-book management. The 20th Anniversary Edition of The Great Game of Business includes a new introduction and commentary by Stack and a “Get in the Game” how-to guide to help readers begin implementing the ideas detailed in the book.

Learn how to build a winning team that drives business results AND develop the right key metrics and incentives to strengthen commitment and accountability.

Hope to see you and your team at one of our upcoming events!

 

 

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